New Dinosaur Species with A Head-mounted Sword Discovered in Africa

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IIt’s not every day that a new dinosaur is discovered, but it’s a big day. Paleontologist Paul Sereno experienced this in Niger when his team discovered what turned out to be a new species of spinosaur: Spinosaurus mirabilis. They published their findings in the latest issue of Science.

Sereno’s journey began with the writings of a French geologist in the 1950s who mentioned the discovery of a dagger-shaped tooth in the Western Desert of Egypt. No one had ventured this far into the Sahara to follow up, until the Sereno expedition in 2019. There, the team met a local man with a motorbike who agreed to take them to a place where he had sighted giant fossilized bones.

“It was an adventure and a half to wander the seas of sand to search for this place and then find an even more remote fossil area with the new species,” Sereno said in a statement.

During two expeditions, Sereno and his team discovered jaws and a trio of scimitar-shaped crests belonging to S. mirabilis. Based on the exterior texture and interior structures, researchers believe the ridges were covered in keratin and may have been brightly colored to serve as a display. The jaws of S. mirabilis contained fearsome rows of teeth, the lower part of which protruded outward between the upper part to help it catch slippery fish.

Read more: “How the tycoons created the dinosaur”

“This discovery was so sudden and incredible that it was really emotional for our team,” Sereno explained. “I will forever cherish the moment at camp when we gathered around a laptop to observe the new species for the first time, after a member of our team generated 3D digital models of the bones we found to assemble the skull, using solar power in the middle of the Sahara. That’s when the significance of the discovery really took shape.”

Although the crest is the most spectacular feature of the skull, the location where it was discovered was also notable. Previous discoveries of spinosaurs have been limited to prehistoric coastal areas, but S. mirabilis was discovered in an inland area between 300 and 600 miles from the ocean, much further inland.

“I think of this dinosaur as a sort of ‘heron from hell’ that had no problem wading on its sturdy legs in two meters of water, but probably spent most of its time stalking shallower traps for the many big fish of the day,” Sereno said.

After cleaning, scanning and creating a digital rendering of the S. mirabilis skull, Sereno commissioned paleoartists to bring this majestic creature to life. The team created a replica of the skull and a touchable crest, which will be on display at the Chicago Children’s Museum starting March 1.

“Letting children feel the excitement of new discoveries is essential to ensuring that the next generation of scientists will discover many more things about our precious planet that are worth preserving,” Sereno argued.

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Main image: Cast of the skull of the new scimitar-crested spinosaurid, Spinosaurus mirabilis. Credit: Keith Ladzinski.

• Jake Currie

  Published on February 20, 2026

  Jake Currie is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York.